"Street Beat was a triumph! Ticket sales far exceeded expectations and the audience response was overwhelmingly positive. The show’s broad appeal led to happy members, subscribers and season ticket holders, while bringing in a fresh, new audience of enthusiastic young people."

STREET BEAT is a kinetic, maximum energy explosion of urban rhythm and dance, utilizing junk, household items and found objects for drums and percussion and featuring the pinnacle of modern “street” choreography.

We merge African, Cuban, Latin, West African and jazz concepts to create a theatrical show that is simultaneously multi-layered in its richness of experience and pure simple joy in its delivery, as thrilling to watch as it is to hear.

The infectious nature of STREET BEAT is that we take the most ancient of art forms – drumming and dancing – bring it to the modern stage and draw the audience into its magic.

STREET BEAT is as intimate as a heartbeat and as boisterously crowd-pleasing as the best party you’ve ever been to!

Artistic Director: Ben Hansen

What is Street Beat?

Street Beat is the marriage of drums and dance, framed in a vibrantly theatrical setting. But it’s more than that, because seeing a Street Beat show is like going to the wedding of drum and dance, and having the best time of your life.

What’s the philosophy behind Street Beat?

Dancing and Drumming are surely the most ancient art forms of homo sapiens, and they are absolutely wedded together, two sides of the same thing. The beat of the heart, running across the savannah, this is the primal expression of what it is to be alive for humans. And it’s all one thing. So, we are practicing the primal, tribal art and transplanting it to the modern urban landscape. It has never died. It changes, it evolves; it is a living thing.

“My wife dragged me to Street Beat as part of her campaign to stay contemporary. I thought anything labeled urban was something you rolled up your windows to keep out, but you young people put on a heck of a show. It was exciting, it was funny and, you know, it did make me feel contemporary. Nice going!“ Fred C., Philadelphia, PA [Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts]

If you had a metaphor for Street Beat, what would it be?

I often think of Street Beat as a time machine. We take the ancient past, bring it into the immediate moment and point toward the future, dancing all the way. One happy critic called us “an urbanized journey through percussion,” which I think rings true. But we’re also a tribal journey through the urban age.

What sets you apart from other drum groups?

We take African, Cuban, Latin, West African and jazz concepts and mix them all into a gumbo of our own to produce something dynamic and complex, yet simple to grasp and full of raw energy at the same time. Art should inform, but it also ought to taste good. In the theatrical setting, we can really focus this energy and make the audience an integral part of the experience. The audience is a huge part of the experience, as we’re feeding off each other’s energy. That’s when the walls melt away, the curtains dissolve; that’s when we become the agents of magic. People go to the theater to be transformed, to feel renewed and connect on the deepest level with what it means to be a human being.

“Street Beat is the ticket for high-energy family-friendly programming which has a special appeal to that hard-to-please teen and tween audience! Very professional, very polished onstage, fun and personable with the audience after the show. Some of our backstage crew actually called after they left to say how great they were to work with! We’d have Street Beat back in a heartbeat!” Jan Benjamin, Director of Facilities, Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg, SC